Dexter – Recap & Review – The Big One

photo: showtime

Dexter
The Big One

Original Air Date: Dec 12, 2010

Karen Belgrad- Associate Staff Writer
Karenbelgrad
@thetwocentscorp.com

After twelve episodes, the season finale of Dexter is upon us. There are a lot of things up in the air, but will all of them be resolved tonight? Will there be the closure we are looking for?

We opened the season with many questions and grew to have more throughout the season. Was there more to Rita’s murder than Trinity? Would Quinn find out whom Kyle Butler (Dexter) really was? Is there more to Sonya than helpful nanny? But most of all we wondered if this would be the season that Dexter finally got caught.

We left off with Jordan abducting Lumen, Dexter murdering Liddy, Quinn knowing that Liddy was onto something about Dexter, and Deb being precariously close to finding out who the vigilante killers actually are. We open with Dexter frantically assembling his kill tools to search for Lumen. He knows Jordan probably took her some place familiar, most likely where the barrel girls had been tortured.

Ghost Harry tells Dexter he’s been here before with Rita. But Dexter thinks Lumen is different she sees and knows him for what and who he is. And just as he’s heading out the door, his whole family and Sonya arrive to surprise Dexter by moving Harrison’s first birthday party to Miami. Dexter is trying to move them all out the door, but first agrees that Astor and Cody can stay with him for the summer.

Deb tells LaGuerta that Jordan Chase is onto them and wants an APB. LaGuerta asserts they can’t do that without an arrest warrant, but offers up doing a stake and notify, and once they locate Jordan he’ll be under 24 hour surveillance. Deb shares the information with Quinn who says it’s a race to see which couple will be there first, the vigilante or them. Deb doesn’t seem sure they’re a couple anymore.

Dexter calls Jordan and tries to offer himself in Lumen’s place. Jordan says he has what he wants and hangs up and removes his cell battery. Lumen struggles in the trunk, kicking and making lots of noise. A street vendor overhears and looks at the recognizable Jordan curiously. Jordan takes off and pulls over to punch Lumen into unconsciousness and submission.

Deb rewatches the barrel girl videos and notices the attackers keep looking off to the side, seemingly for approval and instructions. She’s sure it’s Jordan giving directions. Dexter listens thoughtfully (and snatches the list of Jordan’s real estate) as Deb admits she relates because of what happened to her with Rudy/Brian/Ice Truck Killer (back in season one).

There’s nothing in the property listens, but Dexter realizes (thanks to Harry) that it could be under Eugene Greer. He bullies the property clerk into rushing the check. Meanwhile, LaGuerta has pulled the force together and tells of the discovery of Liddy’s body. Even though he’s no longer on the force, she says he’s one of their own and it’s a priority. Quinn looks sick to his stomach as he eyes Dexter. Deb knows they were friends and wonders if he’s OK. At the crime scene, LaGuerta wonders why Liddy called Quin five times before he died and then (with eagle eyes!) notices blood on his shoe. Quinn asks for a lawyer.

Dexter gets the call he was waiting for and finds out that Jordan owns the bankrupt River Jordan Camp, where it all began years ago with Emily. He steals a car and takes off. At the same time, Jordan has Lumen at the camp and takes her down to the room where she and the others were previously tortured. Jordan taunts Lumen, saying he’s motivated Dexter to find her, but he also notes that Lumen seems to have changed. He leers at her, and is seemingly ready to act on his own for the first time. Lumen flinches and then kicks him the groin and takes off running, arms tied behind her back. She hits a dead end in the cabin and Jordan grabs her and drags her back downstairs.

At the station, LaGuerta advises Deb that all of Liddy’s surveillance equipment is under Quinn’s name and they’re testing the blood on his shoe. Deb goes to talk to him, but he stays mum, saying he didn’t kill Liddy, but nothing more.

Dexter races towards the camp, with Harry babbling in his ear about not underestimating his adversaries. Unfortunately, Dexter is too distracted to see the tractor in front of him and slams into it, flipping his car (again!). He crawls out of the wreckage with his tools, slightly dazed, only to find Jordan waiting in front of him. Jordan throws a bound Dexter down the stairs and begins monologuing about Dexter and Lumen’s shared experiences to a suspended Lumen and tied Dexter. He opens Dexter’s tools and seems momentarily impressed, but pauses when he realizes one is missing. Dexter, having untied his owns hands with the hidden knife, lunges forward and stabs Jordan in the foot. The two struggle and Dexter manages to get him into a sleeper hold, rendering him unconscious.

Deb questions the street vendor, bemoans her lack of Spanish language skills, and takes off towards the abandoned camp. Lumen and Dexter have Jordan strapped to a cot. Dexter tells Lumen she should be the one to do the killing and Jordan laughs at the whole etiquette of it all. He claims credit for transforming Lumen into who she’s become, but she snaps at him not to say her name. She yells at Jordan that she’s doing this for all the victims and angrily stabs him in his chest. She apologizes to Dexter for her outburst, but he agrees that there is no polite way to kill someone.

Deb arrives at the camp and heads into the main house, gun drawn. She arrives in the basement to see blood pooled on the floor and notices to figures moving behind a tarp and shouts for them not to move. She knows it’s barrel girl #13. Dexter and Lumen freeze in place. Deb tells her that it’s a miracle she survived, but as cop she knows it’s not up to others to decide who lives and dies. Through tears, Deb tells them that the place will soon be swarming with police… and they shouldn’t be there when the police arrive. She scurries up the stairs and Dexter and Lumen both gasp for breath.

Deb goes to sees Quinn and tells him she’ll be there for him, no matter what happens. She knows things are complicated.

Lumen and Dexter take a boat ride and dump Jordan’s body parts. They bond over the completion of their revenge and a serene expression comes over Lumen’s face. The next morning, Dexter has the serene look as he watches her sleep, but Lumen awakens looking troubled. At the station, Dexter seems calm as he tests the telling blood on Quinn’s shoe. He returns home, bouncing about, but Lumen crushes his spirit by admitting she can’t stay. Her dark passenger is gone and she knows Dexter’s never will be. Dexter sees his own reflection in a plate and angrily throws it, shattering it and his own self -image. Lumen comforts him before she leaves.

At Harrison’s birthday party, everyone is coupled off. Masuka has some random hot date. Batista and LaGuerta agree to start over. And Quinn arrives, exonerated by the shoe blood not matching Liddy’s (apparently the surveillance equpiment and the massive of amount of predeath phone calls didn’t matter?). Quinn thanks Dexter, but with a quietly suspicious look. Dexter admits to Deb that he doesn’t like Quinn, but wants Deb to be happy. Dexter quietly takes off his wedding band. He voice overs that nothing is set in stone, not even darkness.

And… that’s it. I’m not sure about the rest of the audience, but this was a huge letdown for me. I know there’s a season six coming next fall, but this season accomplished nothing. Once again, Dexter evades being discovered by Deb. In fact, Dexter once again evades all consequences. The Kyle Butler lead, the Liddy surveillance, Jordan as a worthy adversary… nothing amounts to anything more than the status quo. I had really hoped this would be a game changer of a season finale, but it was way too neat. All questions seemingly were answered.

True, there are some questions for us viewers. What about the other Fuentes brother? Where and how did Dexter manage to hide that knife? Is Sonya really practically perfect? Could the anvils on the head about Deb letting the vigilante killer escape have been any clearer? Is the Kyle Butler search really done? How many people will continue to get so close to Dexter’s secret and not learn it? What really made Eugene Greer turn into Jordan Chase?

I’m just frustrated as a viewer that no stakes have been changed. This storyline, this season, really felt like it had the potential to be such a game changer and in the end, all that really happened is that Dexter (once again) learned he is capable of real human emotions.

Well, those are My TwoCents. Share your TwoCents, comments, thoughts, and theories about the finale and the season as a whole below!